Professionals Making A Difference
The PEA and the BC Public Service Agency have agreed to overtime entitlements above and beyond OSS (Article 15) provisions for professionals who perform duties outside their normal responsibilities during emergency situations.
Under the terms of the agreement, additional overtime compensation is available to regular, full-time professionals who perform duties outside their normal responsibilities if the deputy minister responsible for the Provincial Emergency Program, in consultation with the deputies of the ministries directly impacted by an emergency situation, gives written approval to activate the recognition process. In these circumstances, professionals will earn leave entitlement of one hour for every hour worked above and beyond normal work hours during the regular work week; and one hour for every hour worked on a day of rest. Time off shall be taken by mutual agreement subject to operational requirements. Any time remaining as of March 31 of the following calendar year shall be paid out.
The new agreement is a significant improvement over the compensation arrangement achieved for professionals who engaged in forest fire suppression work in 2003. First, it is broader in scope, capturing professionals who perform duties outside their normal responsibilities during a range of emergency situations. For 2004, the agreement will apply to professionals engaged in responding to both forest fires and the avian flu outbreak. Second, the agreement has no end date, providing professionals with certainty regarding compensation before an emergency response and eliminating the need to negotiate compensation each year. Third, the agreement does not require any reductions in OSS entitlements, marking the first occasion that the PEA has successfully negotiated on-going overtime compensation that does not require a trade-off on OSS entitlements.
The Public Service Agency (PSA) has now provided the conditions that will apply to compensation for PEA members who were involved with battling the fire conditions in August and September of this year. The compensation, which mirrors that offered to excluded employees, includes:
Leave with pay to employees who performed duties as a direct consequence of the fires that gave rise to the declaration of the provincial state of emergency.
Leave entitlement will be calculated for work performed from August 2, 2003 to September 19, 2003 (inclusive) on the following basis: one half (1/2) hour for every hour worked above and beyond normal work hours during the regular work week; and one (1) hour for every hour worked on a day of rest.
Nothwithstanding modified work week schedules, for the purposes of leave entitlement calculation, “normal work hours” will be considered to be Monday to Friday, 7 hours per day.
Leave entitlement as calculated above shall be reduced by 2.45 hours per week for each week an employee performed duties resulting in leave with pay. (This is to reflect the normal OSS compensation for that period.)
Time off shall be taken by mutual agreement subject to operational requirements. Any time remaining as of December 31, 2003 shall be paid out or added to an employees vacation carry-over bank (subject to limitations of Clause 21.04) at the employee's option.
The final logistics of implementation are still under discussion. All members to whom this applies should compile a record of hours spent during the provincial emergency that conform to the above conditions, and submit same to your supervisor. Please retain a copy for your records. Since the compensation is outside the language of the collective agreement, and over and above the OSS language which applies to all overtime worked, the application of the compensation is not subject to the grievance procedure. However, the PSA has provided a mechanism to deal with potential questions of application.
